After several months of negotiations, Universal has closed its deal to sell genre-mill Rogue Pictures to the studio's close financing partners at Relativity Media.

Variety today offers a disturbing memo to anyone who had "DreamWorks' resurgence FTW" in their forecast of industry predictions for 2009: Maybe next year.

The spectacle of ordinary people coping with extraordinary forces runs throughout the cinematic work of Steven Spielberg. And now Spielberg himself is dealing with an unexpected crisis: A credit drought that could kill his studio.

Here's a Doomsday holdover for anyone who thinks today is going a little too conveniently well: Ryan Kavanaugh, the film financier whose Relativity Media interests intersect heavily with Universal, Sony and pretty much anyone else making films in Hollywood right now, will be arraigned next week on speeding and drunk…

As you may have already heard, a staggering 850 people were laid off from Viacom today. Torrents of blood washed down the halls of MTV on both coasts, with added security in wading boots posted on every floor for "observation" (translation: making sure downsized employees don't try to swipe a promotional copy of …

A tender postmortem in today's New York Times reminds the world yet again that seriously — like, really, this time — David Geffen is leaving DreamWorks. Having shepherded the monolith through the Hollywood establishment from conception to its first marriage (and divorce) before giving the frazzled bride away a second…

The Dept. of Forgone Conclusions forwarded a memo this morning confirming that DreamWorks has settled with Universal as its new distribution partner for the next five years, officially ending months of speculation and finally slicing the last thread connecting the 'Works to its exes at Paramount. The partnership…

Today in Foregone Conclusions: "Sources" are telling Sharon Waxman that DreamWorks has "all-but-officially closed" a distribution deal with Universal; an announcement could be forthcoming in days, along with the requisite TOLDJA! from Nikki Finke, and David Poland and Variety explaining how inaccurate and premature…

Here at Defamer, we usually announce the latest Hollywood projects in our trade round-up, but today's Variety included mention of an upcoming project that was so balls-out bizarre, we knew it needed special attention. According to the industry bible, Wanted helmer Timur Bekmambetov is prepping an adaptation of…

Ben Silverman—dubbed by some "the Russell Brand of TV execs" as much for his ids-gone-wild approach to the job as for his untamed nest of rock-star hair and penchant for ultra-skinny jeans—has found himself in recent months the source of much industry deathwatch chatter. By now we're well aware of the criticisms…

To Catch a Thief: When you're done parsing the genetic heritage of Dane Cook's slightly doppelgangy new film, we've got another, bigger provenance for you to deduce: Steven Spielberg is one of several defendants named in a new lawsuit accusing the creators of the 2006 hit Disturbia of stealing the idea from Alfred…

Whatever your impressions of would-be bank robber and generally overrated fantasy maven Guillermo del Toro, his new long-term pact with Universal can't be the kind of thing that rouses too much confidence in his growth and versatility — even among fans. After his five-year commitment to The Hobbit, the filmmaker…

Resisting the Lucas-esque compulsion to digitally swap Pierce Brosnan's open-throated squawk with a mellifluous gay lilt, Universal has instead touched on a decidedly more modest touch in tweaking its hit Mamma Mia! for a late-summer revival: Subtitles, and plenty of them. Behold Mamma Mia! The Sing-Along Version,…

· Ben Affleck will star in Mike Judge's Extract, about the trials and tribulations of "a flower extract factory owner." We know the punchline is "Ow My Essence of Citrus Blossom!" We're just not sure how the rest goes. [Variety] · The Zurich Film Festival will bestow their highest honor, The Golden Herring, upon the…

What better après-puff-piece aperitif to follow the NY Times's profile of a content-hungry Time Warner than Portfolio's equally attentive servicing of NBC Universal oligarch, Jeff Zucker? Interviewed at his ballroom-sized corner office at 30 Rock, the reporter at first can't resist infantilizing his subject: "Zucker…

As first noted here a few weeks back, ye olde stalled Robin Hood epic Nottingham is all but dead in the water now at Universal, where Ridley Scott, Russell Crowe and Sienna Miller were locked in to start shooting this month before a flurry of setbacks delayed it indefinitely. As presumed, labor woes and casting…

What is a loud, developmentally disabled summer action blockbuster to do when even Hollywood's biggest quote-whore critic won't endorse it? That's the dilemma facing The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, which, at this time Thursday, was packing a 0% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. What a difference a day…

Theories abound in the NY Times recently as to why Steven Spielberg had to go all the way to India for a new and improved DreamWorks deal: Wall Street is skittish! DVD revenue is slipping! Spielberg is overpriced! So on and so forth — all and none of which are true at the same time. What's buried waaay at the end of…

The completely fabricated demand for Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Bastards — the subject of white-hot, Weinstein-fueled media speculation until a real phenomenon worth covering came along — is reportedly entering the realm of fact on its way to a deal at Universal. Variety notes today that the Weinsteins may…

A note slipped over the Defamer transom this afternoon hints that all is not well in Nottingham, Ridley Scott's reimagining of the Robin Hood legend which was set to begin shooting with Russell Crowe and a really, really, really excited Sienna Miller sometime next month. But we're hearing now that the film — which…